Wednesday, March 7, 2018

March 7 On This Day in Australian History

1791 - Mrs. Elizabeth Macarthur wrote in a letter to gal pal Bridget Kingdon,
"Mrs. Coleby, whose name is Daringa, brought in a new born female infant of hers, for me to see … it was wrapp’d up in the soft bark of a Tree, a Specimen of which I have preserved, it is a kind of Mantle not much known in England, I fancy. I order’d something for the poor Woman to Eat, and had her taken proper care of for some little while, when she first presented herself to me she appear'd feeble and faint, she has since been regular in her visits. The Child thrives remarkably well and I discover a softness and gentleness of Manners in Daringa truly interesting."
Coleby or Colebee was a leading Aboriginal of Sydney and was captured along with Bennelong by Cap. Phillips although Colebee later escaped, while Elizabeth Macarthur was the real power behind the throne of the infamous Merino sheep.

1817 - The Bible Society of NSW was formed in Sydney.

1826 - Duncan McCallum was Hanged at Sydney for robbery at South Creek.

1826 - Peter Roberts was Hanged at Sydney for robbery at South Creek.

1826 - William Patient was Hanged at Sydney for robbery at South Creek.

1826 - William Morrison was Hanged at Sydney for robbery at South Creek.

1831 - Control of the King Georges Sound settlement was transferred from NSW to WA.

1832 - The first issue of the Government Gazette was published in Sydney as part of the Sydney Gazette.

1833 - John Bowen was Hanged at Sydney for burglary and putting in fear at Inverary.

1836 - Doodling in the back of an envelope with his pencils Robert Hoddle laid out the streets of Melbourne 1.5 chains wide (30 mts) with each block of land 10 chains wide.

1837 - George Capsey was Hanged at Sydney for the robbery and assault of Henry Jarvis near Berrima.

1857 - The Seabelle was a ship that left Rockhampton on this day only to be wrecked off Fraser Island the next day; rumours ran rife in the following years that a white woman and 2 white girls were seen living with the Fraser Island Aboriginal people so the NSW authorities had a word to a ships captain to have a look-see ...
The captain brought back two young girls who were placed in an institution, never to be returned to their parents as he'd promised, and both died at an early age.

1860 - Lieutenant Carr and his troopers of the Native Police shot dead 15 Aboriginals at Bendemere just north of Yuleba. Carr had tracked down and surrounded their camp containing around 100 people because the local squatter, William Sim, complained that they were "annoying the shepherds and demanding rations." Upon seeing the troopers they threw their nulla-nullas at them, to which Carr responded with sustained gunfire for over an hour.

1870 - Gee Lee was Hanged at Toowoomba Gaol for the murder of Louis Vernon at Caroline sheep station on the Burenda run, in the Warrego district.

1870 - Jacky Whitton was Hanged at Toowoomba Gaol for the rape of Henrietta Reiss at Bodumba station near Warwick.

1881 - A Victorian Royal Commission looking into this problem of the Kelly Gang outbreak and the state of the police force began asking questions and probably didn't like the answers they were given.

1882 - The north west of Western Australia was hit by a major cyclone which caused damage to the towns of Cossack and Roebourne.

1883 - NSW Premier Henry Parkes threatened to limit Irish migration to NSW if Irish people did not stop transplanting their old world animosities to the new.

1891 - The Toronto Branch Railway Line (NSW) was opened.

1894 - A Victorian Royal Commission looking into the water supply problem was established...obviously we're still waiting to hear the results!

1911 - Alexander Smart was for the murder of Ethel May Harris at 5 Cowle Street, West Perth.

1921 - The Commonwealth Department of Health was formed. It took over the quarantine service of the Department of Trade and Customs, the Australian Institute of Tropical Medicine and the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories. It also became responsible for national health functions such as the treatment of infectious diseases in returned soldiers.

1936 - A short-lived experiment involved the exclusive use of six Tait carriages on a special train running from Flinders Street to Port Melbourne, to meet passengers off international ships. Called The Boat Train, the first run departed Flinders Street station at 9:10am for Station Pier, to meet the Italian liner Esquilino. The return trip departed station pier at 10:15am.

1954 - The Sydney Morning Herald reported about a new souvenir craze that saw people plopping pennies onto the railway tracks ahead of the Royal Train of Queen Elizabeth II during her Royal Tour Down Under in order to flatten the coins to create a very unique momento.

1958 - BHP and the South Australian Government agreed on the establishment of a steel plant and rolling mills at Whyalla, SA.

1959 - Chickybabes were doin' it for themselves when Jessie Cooper and Joyce Steele were the first gals elected to the South Oz Parliament.

1961 - Const. Kenneth Flatt, WA Police, died whilst on duty.

1965 - The Qantas Boeing 707 passenger jet 'City of Townsville' completed the first continuous flight across the Pacific. It roughly followed the course taken 37 years earlier by Charles Kingsford Smith in Southern Cross.
The 'City of Townsville' was later purchased by actor John Travolta.

1966 - The Arbitration Court, at long last, finally awarded equal pay to NT Aboriginal Pastoral workers BUT it was to be phased in over a three year period and came with the exemptions that Aboriginal employees could be classed as "slow workers".

1966 - The first academic year at Flinders University, South Oz, began with the enrolments of 382 first year under graduates and 35 graduate students.

1973 - The headquarters of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation in Melbourne were raided by police led by the Attorney-General, Lionel Murphy.

1975 - The Australian Film Commission was established.

1976 - Forbes House, in Makerston Street, Brisbane was purchased and converted into Queensland Police Headquarters and officially opened on this day/

1977 - QEII and Prince Phil started touring all over Or-stray-lia, but without the caravan and boat, to celebrate Liz's Silver Jubilee year.

1979 - The The Peak Branch Railway Line (NSW) was closed.

1989 - Larry Kramer’s play The Normal Heart opened for a season directed by Wayne Harrison and starring John O’May and Graham Harvey.

1994 - Over 1/2 million people took part in the 5th Clean Up Australia Day.

1997 - In Australia it was disclosed that the reputed Aboriginal painter Eddie Burrup was actually 82-year-old Elizabeth Durack.

1998 - Entry to the work of lesbian photographer depicting a group of queer women performers, was restricted by the Stills Gallery.

2000 - The Aussie Federation Guard was pupped at Parliament House in Canberra today.

2008 - Captain Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, a protest ship harassing Japanese whalers in the Southern Ocean, said he was shot in a high-seas clash and his crew members pelted with flash grenades, injuring one. Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Japanese officials insisted only warning devices were fired.

2009 - Nations United was the theme for the Mardi Gras.

2010 - A severe storm that began its rumblings on March 6th and continued on its merry way on this day saw thunderbolts and lightning (very, very frightening) with large hail stones, flash flooding and a slightly dampish start to Autumn all over Melbourne.
Who could forget the hail that broke the roof of So Cross station and piled up like snow drifts on the platforms, the flooded city line of Hawksburn Station et el, or the streets of Melbourne becoming the new Olympic swimming training facility?!

2015 - That years Mardi Gras in Sydney saw the theme of Passion adopted.